Level: beginner
Comparative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons:
This car is certainly better, but it's much more expensive.
I'm feeling happier now.
We need a bigger garden.
We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:
She is two years older than me.
New York is much bigger than Boston.
He is a better player than Ronaldo.
France is a bigger country than Britain.
When we want to describe how something or someone changes we can use two comparatives with and:
The balloon got bigger and bigger.
Everything is getting more and more expensive.
Grandfather is looking older and older.
We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on another:
The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is.
(= When you drive faster, it is more dangerous.)The higher they climbed, the colder it got.
(= When they climbed higher, it got colder.)
- Comparative adjectives 1
- Comparative adjectives 2
Superlative adjectives
We use the with superlative adjectives:
It was the happiest day of my life.
Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
That’s the best film I have seen this year.
I have three sisters: Jan is the oldest and Angela is the youngest.
- Superlative adjectives 1
- Superlative adjectives 2
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How to form comparative and superlative adjectives
We usually add –er and –est to one-syllable words to make comparatives and superlatives:
old | older | oldest |
long | longer | longest |
If an adjective ends in –e, we add –r or –st:
nice | nicer | nicest |
large | larger | largest |
If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant:
big | bigger | biggest |
fat | fatter | fattest |
If an adjective ends in a consonant and –y, we change –y to –i and add –er or –est:
happy | happier | happiest |
silly | sillier | silliest |
We use more and most to make comparatives and superlatives for most two syllable adjectives and for all adjectives with three or more syllables:
careful | more careful | most careful |
interesting | more interesting | most interesting |
However, with these common two-syllable adjectives, you can either add –er/–r and –est/–st or use more and most:
common cruel gentle handsome likely |
narrow pleasant polite simple stupid |
He is certainly handsomer than his brother.
His brother is handsome, but he is more handsome.
She is one of the politest people I have ever met.
She is the most polite person I have ever met.
The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular comparatives and superlatives:
good | better | best |
bad | worse | worst |
far | farther/further | farthest/furthest |
- How to form comparative and superlative adjectives
Hello Tim
This is an interesting question, and one that you could probably spend quite some time researching. While some teachers might use the word 'describe' -- I've checked, and this is indeed what the Cambridge Dictionary says, more analytical descriptions tend to use the word 'modify' instead of 'describe' -- for example, the Wikipedia article for Adjective. When we say 'modify', we're referring to a grammatical modifier, which you can read more about if you follow that last link.
This is not an area that we get into on LearnEnglish, I'm afraid, but I hope you find those sources helpful.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Tim
Yes, you're right! I've just fixed the link so that it goes to the entry for 'adjective' rather than 'verb'.
Sorry for the confusion!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Raj
I'm not familiar with this particular collocation. An internet search suggests that it may come from the app Evernote, but I'm not sure about that. It does sound grammatically correct to me. In English there are many noun + noun combinations, e.g. 'coffee pot', 'tea cup', 'swimming pool', and this seems to be a relatively new one.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Cathymini28
You are correct in thinking that 'emptier' is a comparative form of the adjective 'empty', but it's also true that many people use 'more empty' sometimes.
It's great that you noticed this!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Janaka
For most people, all three of these are correct. As far as I know, no one would have any issue with 3, but there are some who prefer 2 to 1, and others who prefer 1 to 2. I usually use 2 or 3.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Risa warysha,
Both sentences are correct but we generally don't add the final verbs as they are understood from the sentence as a whole:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello goodusername
It would be a bit unusual to say 'more oversized', but in some contexts it could probably work, for example, if you are comparing two oversized items and one is bigger than the other.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Backlight,
The first sentence is correct. The others are incorrect.
We use 'than' after comparative forms. In (2) and (4) you have normal adjectives, not comparative forms. In sentence (3) you have an adverb, not a comparative form.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Janaka Liayanapathirana
All three of these are correct. I would recommend you use 2 in informal or neutral situations. 1 and 3 are appropriate for formal situations.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello YSATO201602,
I think it's perfectly fine to use the smallest (or lowest) number of..., just as it is fine to use the biggest (or the highest, the greatest) number of...
The other two options sound rather strange to me. They are, of course, illogical as the superlative refers not to women but to number, and so least and fewesr are rather jarring. However, your question is about which are used and it is not uncommon for 'illogical' forms to come into use.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Pratapsingh
I would say that B, C and D are all grammatically correct.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team